NBA play-offs will be tricky, warns Barkley

NEW YORK: Charles Barkley laid out a possible ugly scenario for the NBA postseason if it is played this summer amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Hall of Famer believes teams should be eliminated from the playoffs if one of their players tests positive for Covid-19.

“I think the one thing we’ve to go do is, how are we going to handle if one of our players gets infected,” Barkley said on Monday on ESPN’s The Paul Finebaum Show.

“That to me is the tricky part. You can’t stop the play-offs. I think a team is just going to have to forfeit a series if any of their players, not even their best player, gets the virus.

“You’re going to have to sequester the entire team, and they are going to have to forfeit a round of the playoffs. They are going to be gone for the play-offs.

“It would be devastating for us in the NBA if the Milwaukee Bucks got taken out, even if it’s a guy who just is sitting on the bench, you would have to take the whole Milwaukee Bucks team, and the great player Giannis [Antetokounmpo], they would lose in the first round of the play-offs.

“This stuff is just uncharted waters. We’re going to have to learn as we go.”

The Bucks are among title contenders along with the likes of LeBron James’ LA Lakers and the LA Clippers.

Barkley added that both the nature of the game and the prospective living quarters for the players could put them at risk of infection.

“Big basketball players pushing on each other in the lane, fighting for rebounds and post position, there’s no way they can social-distance,” Barkley said.

“They say they’re going to put ’em in a hotel for two or three months. Are the maids going to be in the hotel for two or three months? The maids are going to go home every day.

“What about the people in room service? They’re going to go home every day. So it’s just a lot of unanswered questions.”